The obtainable density of DRAM and other semiconductor devices is strongly tied to the ability to miniaturize their component structures, among them capacitors. In turn, thinner and smaller area capacitors are obtained using high dielectric constant materials. Certain metal oxides show promising application as these high dielectric constant materials, but these metal oxides can vary greatly in terms of obtainable and reproducible dielectric constant.
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is one such oxide. Titanium oxide can be produced in an amorphous form, but also has anatase and rutile crystalline phases. The anatase phase has a dielectric constant on the order of forty, whereas the rutile phase can have a dielectric constant ranging from eighty to one-hundred-seventy, well more than twice than that of anatase
A need therefore exists for ways to produce specific forms of metal oxides; ideally, such methods could be inexpensively implemented in a manufacturing context; this would lead to consistently higher dielectric constant and therefore greater, reproducible device density. The present invention addresses these needs and provides further, related advantages.